Leaving Certificate Biology

Lorraine – Higher Level

Hi all! 🙂 Well I’m just out of Biology and I have to admit I am fairly disappointed. As someone who has never been mad on Biology but gotten good grades after the mocks I really kicked myself even though I got a B and I attacked Biology properly. I did every exam paper, repeatedly went through on line videos, wrote out notes and flashcards and really tried to drill it into my head but that exam was awful. First of all, I didn’t even know where to start with the short questions!! The last one, Q6, was literally 2 definitions that I have never seen before! I made a stab at them but I know my answers were wrong. I’m normally a big banker on Section A and Section B to pull me through Biology but today, I was really let down. The section A questions just seemed very different than other years and I was really disappointed.

Section B was ok enough, although I completely forgot about the diagrams for fungi reproduction! 😛 Section C though I can honestly say I found really really hard. I always try and skip genetics because me and the crosses just do not work together but today I actually had to do genetics question because I was lost on the paper.

After the exam from talking to everyone else, everyone thinks that we were really unlucky with a really horrible paper. I have to say I’m really disappointed as I had started to enjoy Biology but at this point in time, I’m hoping I at least got a D-C because that was an awful paper!

I’m going to go cram some History and French for tomorrow- I think only an hour break between these papers is ridiculous!

Joanna – Higher Level

It was a long paper and although parts got me stuck, thankfully there is always some choice, so I think I did well in it. The time in Biology is not tight at all, so it’s grand in terms of taking your time with everything and then reading back over it.

I found the first section easy enough. The second one, I answered the questions that were needed and then I did one extra in the last section. The paper seemed a bit different to me than papers in previous years, but maybe its just the sleep deprivation from the last two nights. There was a picture e of a dogs teeth on one page and a reflex arc (my favourite) on another. I don’t know, I was so tired going in to the exam, all I can remember is writing answers and then cycling home… Thank god these last two days are over. Two exams per day, twice in a row should not be happening! Well, I’m finally over half way there (7 exams out of 11 done) so I’m delighted that the end of these exams is near 🙂

Isabelle – Higher Level

Biology has always been one of my better subjects, but due to being overwhelmed and and overtired as well as a lack of preparation my mock result didn’t reflect that at all, and so I made sure I was prepared for today! I left Irish a bit early and went to cram as many definitions as I could!

I thought the paper couldn’t have suited me any better to be honest, everything I had crammed came up and everything I had avoided was avoidable (and also that guy who predicts papers on YouTube got the experiments spot on, shout out to him for saving me today) I came out of the paper feeling pleased that I had done as much as I could have done, and I know I certainly improved on my mock grade!

However, the majority of my friends didn’t feel this way at all, and I certainly can see how many people came out unhappy! Weird topics came up together (reproductive system with nervous system) and some of the questions were phrased really oddly too! I guess with such a big course it really is the luck of the draw and you can’t learn everything, but seeing as so many people found it difficult lets just pray for a nice marking scheme.

Leah – Higher Level

Oh lord. Where to even begin with Biology. After that thrilling and soothing morning with such a beautiful Irish Paper, I will admit that I may have gotten too laid back. Biology brought me right back to the terrors of exams though. I am not even ashamed to admit that I wanted to cry over the paper.

My entire paper was nothing less than a train wreck; partially because of the paper and partially because Biology is my worst subject. The Paper made me feel like I had done no study all year – not effective study anyway. The only consolation in that entire question were the Ecology sections. Apart from that though, I spent at least an hour and a half of the three hour long exam staring at the blanks on my paper. I feel like Irish Paper II worked against us to trick us into a sense of false security and then Biology showed up and shot us all with gamma rays or something. I was even contemplating on whether to take an Ordinary Level exam or not. Maybe I should have.

All in all – Biology was a bit of muck. 0/10, would not recommend. It’s all over now though. Now I get the sweet bliss of 9 days exam-free, until the 19th where I will have Religion and Japanese. I will of course be back here then to let you all know how they went but, until then, I wish you luck. Catch you on the (almost) flip side.

Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union.